I traveled to Chicago for a long weekend last summer and met up with my friend B. We rented an adorable Airbnb which I will link HERE, because it was so well kept and comfortable. Our husbands are both students in the EMBA program at Northwestern in Evanston, so the house we chose was a great location for us. (It was only blocks from the beach on Lake Michigan and I did pack a bikini and cover up, but we never had enough time in our schedule to saunter up to the sand). We did however have enough time for some mouth-watering and satiating food and drink options.
Friday was my day to choose our excursion and if you know me then you know my theme was food. I am the self-proclaimed #wannabefoodie in my world after all. I started research on walking food tours a couple months before we arrived and chose one in the historic Chicago neighborhoods of The Gold Coast and Old Town. {SIDENOTE: If you have not incorporated walking food tours into your travels then you are completely missing out on a unique and inspirational way to see a city. Forget all the tourist trap restaurants and eat where the locals dine/shop/drink. This is my absolute favorite thing to do in a new city. Our tour is linked HERE so you can add it to your bucket list; our guide was named Jackie and she was very knowledgeable and hilarious. Her second job is actually at Second City (a legendary improv and comedy theater) so she knows how to draw a laugh}. Funnier than her, she actually reminded me a lot of my therapist; which is ironic because my therapist hasn’t shown me any humor at all in our sessions. They had the exact same voice and cadence. Back to the tour... The tour I chose encompassed seven different stops and a wide variety of cultures, because I love diversity in all forms, including culinary. We met at a tourist trap...yep.
Lou Malnati's Pizzeria has a location in The Gold Coast and I tried my best to not roll my eyes. I was quickly eating crow (and delicious pizza) when Jackie began explaining who exactly Lou was and then she served us each a slice of traditional Chicago-style sausage pizza...with a fork. It was delicious. This pizza at Lou's was, dare I say, one one of the best slices I have ever had...it's the butter crust. I mean y'all. It is essentially a thin pie crust with mozzarella and fresh tomatoes layered on top. So good. Our next stop was the perfect respite for washing down all that ooey-gooey, buttery pizza...a tea shop!
Can you say TeaGschwendner? (Who knew Germans could love tea so much?). This was the most educational stop for our group and it also elicited the most questions. They served us a full-size iced white tropical tea with hints of passion fruit and pineapple. It was delicious and this southern girl did NOT sweeten it one bit. {shocking} Did you know that all tea is made from a single plant? There is not a different variety of tea plant for each type of tea? Different types of tea are created based on how and the the length of time the leaves are oxidized. Is your mind blown?
The entire tour took three hours and our walk led us down beautiful tree-line streets with gorgeous historic homes. Surprisingly, this included the original Playboy Mansion owned by none other than Hugh himself. Even more surprising? Hugh sold it to the University of Chicago and they turned it into a female dormitory. I'm not kidding. I'm glad our walk was further than down the street than a block or two because I needed to work up more of an appetite before we sat down at our third stop;
Old Jerusalem in Old Town. This small family-owned restaurant serves up Mediterranean cuisine; you feel like you are eating at your grandmother's house and your sweet grandmother is busy in the kitchen...and also of middle-eastern descent. We ate a falafel sandwich and it was so good...but I had eaten too much pizza at Lou's! I should have had half a slice of pizza so that I could eat my entire falafel sandwich.
Old Town was cool; I loved the history. This neighborhood actually existed before and during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Seven buildings in a four mile radius survived the blaze...seven buildings. Our final four visits were all on the same street and it included my top two stops.
The Spice House - a store unlike any I've ever entered. The air was so heavy with spice and you didn't know whether to take a deep breath or sneeze. I loved it! We tasted three types of cinnamon in their back courtyard and I found a spot to snap a few stylish pics.
Old Town Oil - MY FAVORITE VISIT on the tour! The gentleman here was so friendly and helpful. He paired different vinegars and oils just as you would cheese with wine in France. It was beyond delightful and my tastebuds were celebrating.
The Fudge Pot - This small family-owned confectionary has been making chocolate in Old Town since 1962. We tasted fresh toffee, still warm and gooey; I'm not much of a sweets girl, but I could have eaten the entire slab off the kitchen table.
La Fournette - A local french bakery, again family owned, and specializing in small batch breads baked daily in-house as...bread should be. It's crusty on the outside, speaks with a deep crunch as you tear off a piece and full of delightful pockets of buttery air on the inside. We were served a traditional french sandwich and homemade macarons.
And that ladies and gentlemen (but mostly ladies, b/c that's my demographic) concluded our food tour. We were free to go about Chi-Town as we pleased. Do you believe me when I confess to you that we walked to a juice shop, coffee shop and ate dinner at another restaurant after all that food??? I know, it was pure gluttony. But it was so completely worth every bite and sip. I'm going to jump straight to dinner, because this was my absolute favorite meal of the entire trip. Before I left Texas I reached out to a good friend who also happens to be a chef at one of the hottest restaurants in the country right now and he told me to plan a meal at Giant. Oh my gravy...I'm so so so glad he did. {Thank you for the recommendation Nick & Chris!}.
This spot has got to be on your list for every single trip to Chicago and you ought to sit at the counter in the back at least once so you can chat with the cooks on the line; watch the show as they prepare all of the plates for the rest of the house and enjoy a glass of wine, beer or craft cocktail. I opened with a glass of rose´ myself while I examined the menu and then I ordered pasta (because when you are at a restaurant that makes pasta fresh, in-house you order pasta every time)...and sea urchin...and asparagus. To be specific my first dish is at the top of the menu and such a fun surprise, the Fried Super Uni Shooter (that's deep fried sea urchin with cucumber and soy my friends, and it's delicious). The pasta I chose was Tomato Sortallini (made with guanicale which is an italian cured meat made from the jowls/cheeks of a pig...did I mention my favorite protein is pork?). Finally, I felt it necessary to order something green so I could feel good about myself and I opted for asparagus, (which was delicious, but I didn’t find it on the menu recently). I recommend all of it; every last bite. My friend, B, was in the mood for dessert and when a woman wants dessert she has the right to order it for dinner. Amiright? Cajeta Ice Cream (cajeta is similar to dulce de leche, but it is made with goat's milk and the flavor is sublime). It was the absolute best ice cream dessert I have ever tasted and I've actually daydreamed of it many times since last summer.
Okay. Now I am hungry and luckily, for me anyway, it’s time for dinner. My plan is to follow this post up with a Part 2 and tell you all about the day my friend, B, planned…{Hint: we saw a musical about a famous American Founding Father who co-wrote the Federalist Papers}. You want to read Part 2 and I haven’t even drafted it yet.